


First Tries and Second Chances

by Zonkcat



Category: Brach Smyers - Fandom, Shinedown - Fandom, brent smith - Fandom, zach myers - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 18:52:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5836822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zonkcat/pseuds/Zonkcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the REAL story of how Zach Myers became the lead guitarist for Shinedown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Tries and Second Chances

Zach was so excited.

He was so giddy with excitement he could barely sit still. In fact, he didn’t. Zach paced his apartment all morning, changed his clothes countless times and had drank enough coffee to fuel half of Memphis. But he couldn’t help it. Twenty-eight years old and he felt like a little he was twelve.

His favorite band was playing in town tonight. Shinedown’s newest album had been on repeat since he’d bought it the day it was released. And now he’d get a chance to see the band live.

Once the rest of the day happened first, of course.

As excited as Zach was, he couldn’t completely ignore the real life problems around him. Like the fact that he was between jobs. He hadn’t been able to find a gig in Nashville or anywhere in the area for weeks. After his third cup of coffee, Zach spent an hour or so looking online, something that had become a daily routine. All the good jobs had been swept up and all the people he regularly worked with weren’t looking for anyone right now. 

As he scrolled, Zach could hear the voices in the back of his head. His mom, neighbor, brother, and some friends even, telling him to go out and get a “real” job. A “stable” job. A nine to five. Even thinking the term nine to five made Zach groan. He was starting to worry that the voices were right though; he was barely able to pay his bills this month.

Sighing, Zach closed the browser tab and pulled up iTunes, flicking on Shinedown’s second album, Us and Them. He grabbed one of his many guitars and started playing along as Heroes came on. 

This. This is what Zach loved. As his fingers effortlessly ran over the strings, his heart pounded. Emotions flooded through him and he couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across his face. To Zach, being able to make beautiful music with the guitar was what was worth living for. 

In his heart, he knew he could do it. There were plenty of musicians that made it big. That made a living off of their music. So why couldn’t he? Because it was hard? Anything worthwhile doesn’t come easy. Zach wanted nothing more than to get up on a stage every night and play music for people. Somebody, anybody. He wasn’t picky. He just wanted to play.

As I Dare You started, Zach thought about all the people in his life that didn’t understand that. He’d been bullied all through school because he wasn’t like the other kids. Even his friends at the time didn’t get why he loved the music he did, or why he spent so much time playing guitar, often forgetting to finish homework assignments because he’d been so enthralled with learning a new guitar riff. 

He wanted to prove those people wrong. Everyone that told him he was chasing an empty dream, Zach knew they were wrong. They had to be. 

Mid-song, Zach’s bulldog, Brute, sauntered in and plopped his head on Zach’s lap, spreading slobber onto the guitar.

“Hey man!” Zach held the guitar up over his head. “We talked about this! No drool on the guitar.”

Brute looked up at the guitar, then back at Zach, snorting through his nostrils in contempt.

“All right, I’ll feed you. But then I gotta get ready to go.”

Zach put the guitar back and led Brute outside. He filled up his food and water bowl, making sure he’d have enough for the rest of the day. He did a quick walkthrough of the house, even though he already knew everything was fine. As he slipped into his Air Jordan’s, Zach grabbed his three Shinedown CDs for the car. 

Holding them made him feel giddy and excited again. In a mere few hours, he’d get to see his favorite band perform live right in front of him. 

With one more quick glance behind him, Zach pulled the door closed and headed out for what would hopefully be the best night of his life.

*****


End file.
